Sandra 016

Contact lenses were not available during the cat eye era and as a result, all extremely myopic girls and women were seen in the streets of Amsterdam wearing glasses like this nameless pair shown here by Sandra. These are the classic myodisc lenses with a circular "bowl" surrounded by a positive carrier lens. The ladies in question were shy when you looked at them, self conscious about their very strong glasses. The left lens (from the model's perspective) is minus seventeen and the right lens minus fourteen. My guess is that the first owner of the glasses was an elderly lady in need of bifocals, using the left lens for long distance and the right lens for reading. I clearly remember that there was always a lot of glare in the myodisc lenses of my youth. Anti-reflective coating on lenses was only introduced during the 1970's. I took ten portraits of Sandra in these vintage myodisc glasses but only managed to edit two of these portraits in an acceptable manner.... Outdoor photography on a sunny day has its pleasures but also its risks :).